Muscat coy on Victory's chances of upset

If Melbourne Victory are as good in defence and evading attack as their coach Kevin Muscat in a media conference, they're a massive chance of knocking off runaway A-League leaders Sydney FC.

A cagey Muscat refused to reveal any details about the likely make-up for his team for the Australia Day Big Blue clash, with James Troisi set to return from suspension after missing their win over Western Sydney.

Lawrence Thomas and James Donachie are also in the selection mix with Muscat coy on whether they will play.

Victory haven't beaten Sydney in exactly two years and five A-League meetings, with their last win coming at the same venue where Muscat's men had won 1-0 courtesy of a Matthew Jurman own-goal.

Asked whether that optimum level was enough to break the drought against Sydney, Muscat again wouldn't bite.

"It's difficult to answer because, ultimately, we still don't know how the opposition are going to play.

"It's irrelevant to us because we're preparing to perform to our best ... if we start worrying about the result, you probably don't worry about the performance as much as you should."

Sydney were sluggish in their 1-1 draw last round with Central Coast, although a number of players had been hit with a lingering gastro bug.

Victory are unbeaten in six of their past seven matches.

Sydney FC coach Graham Arnold said his team had recovered well from the illness and were ready to go.

"The preparation we've had this week has been spot on," Arnold said.

"The players are in a great mental position and, physically, we're in great shape with the bug now gone. We had that for two weeks and the boys have trained the house down.

"We go down there expecting to win the game."

Arnold said the chance to achieve history was driving his side, who hold a seven-point lead on second-placed Newcastle.

"No team has ever won two premierships in a row and history shows if you win the premiership, you're a great chance of winning the grand final because you have a home grand final and that's what motivates us," he said.